Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
- The number of suspects that were released under investigation by the force between 1/8/18 and 31/7/19. If possible within cost constraints, please provide a breakdown of the crime type ie the number of people accused of murder, for example.
- The number of those in a) that have gone on to offend while released under investigation. If possible within cost constraints, please provide a breakdown of the original offence and the alleged offence leading to their re-arrest or charge.
In Response:
Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted with the Corporate Development Department of Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held, in part, by Northumbria Police.
I am able to disclose the located information to you as follows.
Disposal status is constantly updated, we can only provide this data based on an end of month snapshot. The actual number may be higher or lower than this (i.e. someone might have been released under investigation through an entire month, or a partial month, across two months or entirely within one month. Disposal types are overwritten as an individual progresses through the crime investigation system. A history is not kept. If an offender was released under investigation then charged, the individual will now show as charged.
The number of suspects released under investigation between 01/08/18 & 31/07/19 was 7,200. This cannot be broken down by crime type, and a response to point 2 cannot be achieved for the reasons outlined above.
